Child safety seat on holidays – necessity or whim?
Hooray! We’ve made up our minds – we’re going on holidays with our child! We pick the destination, and then we figure out how to get there and what to do there. Depending on where we are planning to go and what we would like to do, we need to choose the means of transport. If we want to fly, and then rely on public transport, the question of renting a car – and hence the issue of car safety – does not concern us. However, sometimes we decide to go by car, or we rent a car locally in order to take advantage of our holidays without resigning from our comfort 😉 Since in our family car safety is a top priority, we have a few things to say about it.
Infant safety seat
When M was less than six months old she would travel in the so-called baby cradle. We tried to plan our trips in such a way as to maximally limit, or even completely eliminate cars. To put it mildly, she has never been a sucker for travelling by car, so we opted for other means of transport. When it comes to travelling across Europe, we would rather drive at night or during M’s naps. Whenever we went somewhere by our car, we obviously had the safety seat with us, and if we rented – we could also rent a high quality safety seat. When it comes to travelling elsewhere, we plan our trips so that we don’t need a safety seat – we fly, rely on public transport, or any other creative local ways of transporting people 😉 Sometimes we take a taxi for a short trip from the airport, or we rent a jeep for a ride in a tea garden (see photos below) without the safety seat.
Child safety seat
I realize that a lot of parents switch to a forward-facing safety seat as soon as possible. There are no problems with renting such a seat, since child safety seats are becoming an increasing more common good practice. Obviously in Europe they are available (and obligatory!) everywhere. However, it is not that obvious elsewhere; although you can find some safety seat almost always and almost everywhere, be it Indonesia or Thailand, it may not live up to our European standards and expectations, especially in terms of the “safety” component 😉 In our case problems started when M grew out of her first safety seat, and we still wanted to use a rearward-facing (RWF) one. Of course we have a seat like that in our car, but it is not so readily available for rent. Fun fact: you can rent one in some rentals in Norway! However, in most places they’ve never heard of them.
European regulations regarding transporting children in safety seats
What are the European regulations regarding child safety seats? Where do we HAVE TO use them, and according to what rules? Out of European countries only Belarus recommends rather than obliges parents to use child safety seats. All European countries ban transporting children in a safety seat in the front of the car if the airbag system is on. All children shorter than 135 cm have to travel in safety seats. Regulations regarding transporting children in safety seats suited to height and weight differ from country to country; as a result, there are countries where safety seats are obligatory for children shorter than 150 cm, such as: Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic. Moreover, back in 2018 the EU came up with a plan for increasing road safety by 2030 which introduces a regulation according to which children younger than 4 years old have to travel in a RWF safety seat (older children can travel like that as well, though it is not obligatory). We should always ask ourselves: does the fact that something is allowed by the law automatically make it safe? Crash tests and numerous studies suggest a completely different answer. Parents’ sensibility is crucial here! 😊
Travelling the world with your own child safety seat? What a ridiculous idea!
As our M would put it: well, I it is my idea! Thus we started to travel with our own safe (and large…) RWF safety seat both in Europe and elsewhere – Morocco, Cuba, Mexico... This turned out to be a great idea! Calmness, safety and comfort are our top priorities. Well, speaking of comfort, our main carrier of the safety seat would probably argue here, but hey – you should jump at each and every opportunity for a workout, and those biceps won’t pump themselves 😉! If we fly, we need to pack it so that it arrives in one piece and can serve its function. Of course there are purpose-made cases on the market, but to be honest, we have never had one. We haven’t tested one either, so we may be mistaken, but they don’t seem very durable – I am not convinced by their fabric, thickness and overall looks. Hence we decided to pack our safety seat for a journey across the ocean using home methods – we wrap it in thick bubble wrap, and then twice in tarpaulin (your regular market type). Next we make sure it holds our safety seat safely, and we’re ready to go! It may not look stunning, but it works 😊
We don’t need any dangerous surprises on a holiday with kids
Europe has clear regulations, but in South America, Asia, Mexico, Morocco, or the Caribbean transporting children in child safety seats is not obligatory, and so rarely can we actually see such equipment in cars. As a result, it is either impossible to rent such seats, or they are of poor quality in terms of reliability and safety. Consequently, you need to think twice before renting a local car, and if you do, make sure you have a high quality safety seat. Although distant, exotic corners of the world offer wonderful, unique experiences, the road manners and approach to road safety may be significantly different from what we’re used to – and we wouldn’t like to experience their effects on our skin… not to mention our children’s skin.
M always travels in a safety seat whenever we rent a car, and we’re planning to use a RWF seat for as long as possible – which we actually recommend. We believe that children can accompany us almost everywhere and we know that every parent wants the best for their children, safety included 😊